Simon Andreae Builds Out Fox Reality Department with New Hires

After being officially tapped to run Fox’s alternative department in October, Simon Andreae has made his first series of hires for the division left almost completely vacated following Mike Darnell’s departure last year.

Lisa Levenson has been named senior vice president of alternative entertainment, and Alex Piper vice prez. Both will report to Andreae.

Along with these new hires, Amy Cohen — one of the execs remaining from the Darnell era of Fox reality TV — has been upped to exec director. She has been at the net since 2005.

Levenson joins Fox from Cineflix Prods. where she served as exec veep of development and launched the shingle’s L.A. office. She has exec produced “The Bachelor” franchise for ABC, and logged producer credits on “Big Brother,” “General Hospital” and “The Jerry Springer Show.”

Piper arrives at Fox from Asylum Entertainment. As senior veep of alternative TV at the production company, Piper exec produced programs including “Being Mike Tyson,” “The Locator” and “Addicted.” Piper also boasts a background in sports television, having served as a producer for NBC Sports and NBC Olympics.

“Lisa and Alex come to us with strong backgrounds, both as showrunners and as senior production company executives. As such, each is perfectly equipped not only to support our current unscripted slate, but also to help shape the next generation of hit Fox shows. We’re truly delighted to have them join,” said Andreae.